Electric shaver head assembly

ABSTRACT

An improved electric shaver head assembly having a plastic shaving head supporting frame including integrally formed guides and retaining members which cooperate with integrally formed latch means to detachably support one or more shaving heads on the frame.

[ 1 July 15, 1975 3/1960 Klcinman.... ..............1...v... 30/4392 7/1962 30/4392 8/1974 30/43 92 1 ELECTRIC SHAVER HEAD ASSEMBLY Kachlinc inventor: George P. Gallanis, Centerville,

Ohio

[73] Assignee: Sunbeam Corporation, Chicago. 111. Primary E.ruminerAl Lawrence Smith Filed: p 24, 1974 Assixlum Examiner-Gary L. Smith Attorney Agent. or Firm-George R. Clark; Neil M. Rose; John S. Pacocha Appl. No.: 463,657

An improved electric shaver head assembly having a [58] Field of Search............. 30/342 43.91 43.92.

plastic shaving head supporting frame including inte- 30/346'51 grally formed guides and retaining members which co- References Cited operate with integrally formed latch means to detach- UNITED STATES PATENTS ably support one or more shaving heads on the frame.

2,204,146 30/4392 3 Claims- 10 Drawing Figures ELECTRIC SHAVER HEAD ASSEMBLY BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Motor operated electric shavers of the kind used for men's facial hair and for shaving the hair of womens legs and underarms typically include detachable head assemblies. These assemblies are normally mounted on the shaver housing in such a way that they may be easily detached to facilitate cleaning and/or replacement of the shaving heads included in these assemblies. In

most instances, the shaving assembly will include one or more shaving heads each of which is mounted on a frame, the frame serving to mount the shaving head with respect to the shaver housing.

This head supporting frame must include means for detachably securing the shaving head to the frame. Although the shaving heads may normally be clean while secured to their mounting frame. it is often necessary to replace a shaving head which has become worn or damaged through use. By having the shaving head individually mounted on the frame. an individual head may be replaced without replacing the entire assembly. Various means including screws. clips. etc. have been used to secure the shaving heads to the mounting frame. Because of the vibration associated with the shaving assembly, it is important that the retention means for the shaving head be very secure to prevent it from vibrating loose and to prevent excessive noise through vibration of the parts as a consequence of the oscillating drive and cutters. Examples of some of the means for retaining shaving heads on a mounting frame are shown in the U.S. Pat. Nos. to Locke No. 3,191,298, Walter No. 3,552,009 and Klcinman No. 2,920,II9.

It is, of course, important that the shaving head retention means be made lightweight and as inexpensive as possible to fabricate. The fact that a portion of the retention means must be included with the shaving head which is sold as a replacement part makes it particularly important that the retention means be as simple as possible from a structural standpoint.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The invention consists of a shaving head assembly having an integrally formed mounting frame on which to support the shaving heads. The frame is formed with a somewhat planar portion on which the shaving heads are received with overhanging projections at either end of the shaving heads to restrict the heads for movement in a single direction transverse of their length. Rccesses are formed in the frame with resilient latch portions formed therein having ends extending into cooperating recesses in the bottoms of the shaving heads to restrain the heads from movement with respect to the frame. The projections and latch portions are mounted integrally with the frame providing a simple and inexpensive structure for supporting the shaving heads with respect to the shaver. A mounting partition or spacer is formed on the frame to space the adjacent shaving heads apart.

In one alternative embodiment of the invention. a simple skin guiding member is positioned adjacent to a single shaving head in the shaving assembly. This skin guiding member is mounted integrally with the mounting frame to further simplify the structure of the shaving assembly.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved shaving head having a one piece mounting frame which supports one or more shaving heads.

It is a further object of the present invention to providea shaving assembly having a one piece integrally molded frame to which one or more shaving heads may be assembled without the use of any tools or other assembly means.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an integrally molded supporting frame for supporting a pair of shaving heads in a shaving assembly there being molded projections and latch means associated with the frame to detachably retain the shaving heads thereon. Further objects and advantages will become apparent as the following description proceeds and the features of novelty which characterize the invention will be pointed out in the claims annexed to and form- FIG. I is a perspective view of an electric shaver having a shaving head assembly embodying the invention.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary view of the shaver of FIG. I showing a shaving assembly including two shaving heads and embodying the invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken on line 3-3 of FIG.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged side elevational view of a shaving assembly embodying my invention.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken on line 66 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view ofla head supporting frame embodying my invention.

FIG. 8 is a side clevational view ofa shaving assembly comprising an alternative embodiment to that shown in FIGS. 2 through 7.

FIG. 9 is a sectional view taken on line 9-9 of FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the head frame of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1, 8 and 9.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to the drawings, there is shown in FIG. 1 a

I shaver designated generally by reference numeral I2.

As shown in FIGS. I and 2, the shaver 12 includes a housing 13 which encloses a motor 14 having a pair of drive arms 15. The upper end of the shaver housing is formed with a recess 16 within which a suitable shaving head assembly is removably disposed.

The invention is described in connection with an electric shaver having two alternatively usable shaving assemblies. As shown in FIG. I, there is a shaving assembly I8 which includes a skin guiding member 19 and a shaving head 20. The alternative embodiment as shown in FIG. 2 includes a shaving assembly 22 which has two similar shaving heads 20. The details of the shaving assemblies I8 and 22 are disclosed and claimed in copending application Ser. No. 432,964 filed Jan. 14, 1974 and assigned to the same assignee as the instant application. The only difference between the shaving head assemblies disclosed in the instant application and those disclosed in the above-cited copending application involve the frame for supporting the shaving heads 20.

Although the shaving heads 20 form no part of the instant invention, reference may be had to FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 for an explanation of the details of one of the shaving heads 20. Each head includes a slotted comb 23, a cutter 24 and a cutter biasing spring 25 which urges the cutter 24 into shearing engagement with the inside of the slotted comb 23. The comb and in fact the entire shaving head 20 is supported on an inverted channel-shaped member 26 as is best shown in FIG. 6. The shearing assemblies 18 and 22 consisting of one or two shaving heads respectively are removably mounted within the recess 16 formed by the housing 13. For the purpose of retaining the shaving assemblies within the recess, detent springs 27 are provided as shown in FIG. 4. To overcome the retaining action of the detent springs 27, there is provided a head ejection lever 28 which is mounted on the housing to force the shaving assembly upwardly out of the recess 16 as may be understood from an inspection of FIG. 4.

The shaving assembly 22 includes as a part thereof mounting frame 30 which is best shown in the perspective view of FIG. 7. The mounting frame 30 includes a generally flat or planar portion 300 upon which the two shaving heads 20 are supported. Dividing the planar portion 30a in half is a spacer 30b which is generally wedge-shaped in cross-section and extends the length of the shaving heads 20. The spacer 30b is integrally mounted with the frame 30 and engages or forms a stop for the opposed inner walls of the shaving heads 20.

Frame 30 is formed with clearance openings 300 through which the drive levers I5 extend as shown in FIG. 4. Positioned outwardly of the clearance openings 301' are a pair of recesses 30d positioned on either side of the spacer 30. Received within each of the recesses 30d is a latch 302 having an end latch portion 30f and a resilient support portion 303. The latches 300 are formed so that the support portions 303 lie within the recess 30d while the end latch portions 30f extend upwardly into recesses 31 formed in the channel-shaped members 26 of the shearing heads 20. It should be noted that the end latch portions 30f are angled so that a shearing head 20 may be slid along the planar portion 300 of the frame 30 towards the spacer 30b causing the latches 30a to deflect downwardly until the portions 30j'may snap into engagement with the recesses 31.

In order to guide the shaving heads 20 into engagement with the latches 30c and to retain the shaving heads 20 against moving outwardly normal to the planar portion 30a, there are provided projections 30/: located adjacent to the recesses 30d or at the ends of the shaving heads 20. The projections 3011 have inwardly directed extensions 30j as best shown in FIG. 7. These inwardly directed extensions 30j overhang the ends of the channel-shaped members 26 of the shaving heads 20 as best shown in FIGS. 5 and 7. The projections 30/1 and the extensions 30] completely restrain the heads 20 from movement with respect to frame 30 except in the direction in which latches 30e extend. When the latches 30e are engaged with the recesses 31 in the comb, the heads 20 are fixedly positioned in the frame 30 being restrained from movement in any direction. Thus. to assemble one of the shaving heads 20 to the mounting frame 30, it is merely necessary to engage the outer ends of the shaving head as defined by the channel-shaped member 26 in the slots formed by the overhangs 30j and to slide the shaving head inwardly toward the spacer 3012. As the shaving head moves inwardly,

the end latch portions 30f cause the latches 30e to be deflected until the end latch portions 30f register with the recesses 31 at which time they enter the recesses 31 and together with the projections 30h restrain the shaving head from movement with respect to the frame 30. The frame 30 is a very inexpensive molded plastic piece which performs the function of detachably supporting the shaving heads with respect to the housing 13. The shaving heads 20 have no need for any special assembly means other than the simple recesses 31 which receive the end latch portions 30f of the frame 30.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS. 1 and 8 through 10, the shaving assembly I8 includes only one shaving head 20 and a skin guiding member 19. The skin guiding member 19 is formed of such a size and shape as to fill the portion of the recess I6 which was, in the case of the shaving head assembly 22, occupied by a second shaving head 20. The skin guiding member 19 is formed with a plurality of ribs 19a which engage and guide the skin as it approaches the single shaving head 20 included in the shaving assembly 18.

As illustrated best in FIG. 10, the shaving assembly 18 includes a mounting frame 40 in which the skin guiding member 19 is an integrally formed part. The frame 40 of this embodiment includes a planar portion 400, clearance recess 40b for the drive lever, recesses 40c within which the latches 40d are located and projections 40e which serve to retain the shaving head 20 against movement outwardly of the planar portion 400 as did the projections 30]: in connection with the frame 30. Similarly, the latches 40d of the embodiment of FIGS. 8 through 10 function in the same way as the latches 30a of the earlier embodiment. By having the skin guiding member 19 formed integrally with the frame 40, the structure of the shaving assembly 18 is simplified considerably over an approach in which the supporting frame would be a member separate from the v skin guiding member.

The skin guiding member 19 is formed with a downwardly facing cavity 42 within which the upper end of one of the drive arms 15 is received. Projecting downwardly into the cavity 42 are posts 43 which as shown in dotted lines in FIG. 8 receive conical-shaped rubber bumpers 44. The rubber bumpers 44 engage the drive arm 15 which is positioned in the cavity 42 restraining this drive arm from movement since there is no shaving head 20 to be driven by that drive arm. By restraining the drive arm 15 with the rubber bumpers 44, more power from the motor 14 is available for delivery to the other shaving head 20 and a minimum amount of noise and vibration results.

As the shaving heads 20 are shown in section in FIGS. 6 and 9, it is obvious that the combs 23 are not symmetrical with respect to the cutters 24 since the outermost portion of the comb projects beyond the vertical side wall while the inner wall of the comb lying against spaces 30b is vertical throughout its height. This projecting portion of the comb prevents irritation when the shaver is used in sensitive skin areas. To assure proper orientation of the head 20 with respect to the supporting frame 30, the comb 23 is formed on the inner side wall so that it will not interfere with the projections 3012 while, as shown in FIG. 5, the lower end corners 23a extend beyond overhangs 30j. This interference between the overhangs 30 and the corners 230 permits the heads 20 to be assembled to the frames, ei-

ther 30 or 40 in only one way, i.e. with the comb extension outwardly and the straight vertical side wall toward the center line of the shaving assembly.

While there has been shown and described two specific embodiments of the present invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the invention in its broader aspects, and it is, therefore, contemplated in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the present invention.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In an electric shaver, a detachable shaving assembly comprising a supporting frame having a planar portion in which at least one shaving head including a comb and reciprocating cutter is mounted, said frame being a one-piece plastic member having centrally located recesses, resilient latch portions on said member extending into said recesses, inwardly facing and spaced guides which receive said shaving head and restrict movement of said head to a direction parallel to said planar portion, a stop for said shaving head to establish the assembled position of said head on said frame as it is assembled in said direction, said latch portions being deflected entirely into said recesses during assembly of said head to said head frame, recesses formed in the bottom of said latch portions and restrict said head against movement away from said stop in said direction parallel to said planar portion.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said shaving assembly includes only one shaving head and a skin guiding membei extending parallel to said shaving head, said skin guiding member being integral with said frame, said frame being L-shaped in cross-section with said planar portion extending from the base of said skin guiding member.

3. In an electric shaver, a detachable shaving assembly comprising a supporting frame having a planar portion in which at least one shaving head including a comb and reciprocating cutter is mounted, said frame being a one-piece plastic member having centrally located recesses, resilient latch portions on said member extending into said recesses, inwardly facing and spaced guides which receive said shaving head and restrict movement of said head to a direction parallel to said planar portion, recesses formed in the bottom of said shaving head to receive said latch portions and restrict said head against movement in said direction parallel to said planar portion, said spaced guides being post-like projections at either end of said shaving head having extensions overlying the ends of said shaving head, said latch portions having ends which extend into the recesses formed in said shaving heads and having support portions which lie within the plane of said planar portion and support said ends centrally in said frame recesses.

4. The combination of claim 3 wherein said support portions of said latch portions are flexible so that said ends may be moved away from said shaving head to remove or assemble said shaving head with respect to said frame.

5. The combination of claim 3 wherein said frame supports two shaving heads in parallel spaced relation, said frame including an integrally formed wedgeshaped member which engages the opposed sides of said shaving heads.

6. A shaving assembly comprising a pair of shaving heads each having a base portion comb and cutter, a supporting frame for said heads having a wall extending lengthwise thereof to form a spacer between said heads, said frame having laterally extending portions at the base of said wall which extend normal to said wall and engage and support the base portions of said shaving heads, guide means on said frame engaging said base portions to restrict said heads to rectilinear movement normal to said wall, latch means on said frame to engage and retain said heads upon movement of said heads into position against said wall, said latch means being deflectable by said heads upon movement toward said wall in engagement with said guide means, on engagement of said heads with said wall said latch means positively locking said heads against movement away from said wall.

7. The shaving assembly of claim 6 wherein said guide means comprise inwardly facing channels which receive the ends of said base portion and said latch means include projections which are biased into locking engagement with recesses in said heads.

8. The shaving assembly of claim 7 wherein said guide means and said latch means are supported on laterally extending portions of said frame, said shaving heads being mounted on said laterally extending portions. 

1. In an electric shaver, a detachable shaving assembly comprising a supporting frame having a planar portion in which at least one shaving head including a comb and reciprocating cutter is mounted, said frame being a one-piece plastic member having centrally located recesses, resilient latch portions on said member extending into said recesses, inwardly facing and spaced guides which receive said shaving head and restrict movement of said head to a direction parallel to said planar portion, a stop for said shaving head to establish the assembled position of said head on said frame as it is assembled in said direction, said latch portions being deflected entirely into said recesses during assembly of said head to said head frame, recesses formed in the bottom of said shaving head to receive said latch portions and restrict saiD head against movement away from said stop in said direction parallel to said planar portion.
 2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said shaving assembly includes only one shaving head and a skin guiding member extending parallel to said shaving head, said skin guiding member being integral with said frame, said frame being L-shaped in cross-section with said planar portion extending from the base of said skin guiding member.
 3. In an electric shaver, a detachable shaving assembly comprising a supporting frame having a planar portion in which at least one shaving head including a comb and reciprocating cutter is mounted, said frame being a one-piece plastic member having centrally located recesses, resilient latch portions on said member extending into said recesses, inwardly facing and spaced guides which receive said shaving head and restrict movement of said head to a direction parallel to said planar portion, recesses formed in the bottom of said shaving head to receive said latch portions and restrict said head against movement in said direction parallel to said planar portion, said spaced guides being post-like projections at either end of said shaving head having extensions overlying the ends of said shaving head, said latch portions having ends which extend into the recesses formed in said shaving heads and having support portions which lie within the plane of said planar portion and support said ends centrally in said frame recesses.
 4. The combination of claim 3 wherein said support portions of said latch portions are flexible so that said ends may be moved away from said shaving head to remove or assemble said shaving head with respect to said frame.
 5. The combination of claim 3 wherein said frame supports two shaving heads in parallel spaced relation, said frame including an integrally formed wedge-shaped member which engages the opposed sides of said shaving heads.
 6. A shaving assembly comprising a pair of shaving heads each having a base portion comb and cutter, a supporting frame for said heads having a wall extending lengthwise thereof to form a spacer between said heads, said frame having laterally extending portions at the base of said wall which extend normal to said wall and engage and support the base portions of said shaving heads, guide means on said frame engaging said base portions to restrict said heads to rectilinear movement normal to said wall, latch means on said frame to engage and retain said heads upon movement of said heads into position against said wall, said latch means being deflectable by said heads upon movement toward said wall in engagement with said guide means, on engagement of said heads with said wall said latch means positively locking said heads against movement away from said wall.
 7. The shaving assembly of claim 6 wherein said guide means comprise inwardly facing channels which receive the ends of said base portion and said latch means include projections which are biased into locking engagement with recesses in said heads.
 8. The shaving assembly of claim 7 wherein said guide means and said latch means are supported on laterally extending portions of said frame, said shaving heads being mounted on said laterally extending portions. 